Caritas Australia is calling on the Australian Government to urgently prevent catastrophe in the worst-affected hunger hotspots in the Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria.
Caritas Australia joined other aid organisations as part of the Help Fight Famine campaign, to release a new budget paper at parliament today. The urgent case to save lives at a time of polycrisis, recommends a further $110 million in a Famine Prevention Package to stop a catastrophe in the worst-affected hunger hotspots in the Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria.
Caritas Australia’s Program Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lulu Mitshabu, joined Faysel Ahmed Selat, President of the Somali Community Association of Queensland and Help Fight Famine spokesperson and Oxfam Australia chief executive Lyn Morgain in launching the paper.
“Right now, the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing one of the biggest hunger crises in the world. After decades of conflict, many farms are no longer productive enough to sustain families,” said Ms Mitshabu.
26 million people will be facing hunger by the end of June in the Democratic Republic of Congo – a quarter of the whole population. 15 million of those facing potential starvation are children. Without immediate intervention, many of these children will undoubtedly be dead within months.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the disaster unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo right now. We cannot let children starve to death. I have spent twenty years working as an aid worker in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and this is the worst crisis that I have ever seen.”
“Right now, while hunger is growing, funding is shrinking. The aid provided to the DRC was less than $1 per week per person in need last year. People who already had very little will now just go without. Families that were already hungry are now going to starve. We must do more, before the death toll becomes catastrophic.”
The budget paper also recommends increasing the annual allocation of the Humanitarian Emergency Fund to $300 million and investing $200 million annually in a Global Food Security Strategy to fight the root causes of hunger, including conflict and climate change. It also calls for a commitment to raise the aid budget to 0.5% of Gross National income (GNI). (Australia’s foreign aid program in 2022-2023 amounts to an estimated $4549 billion, which equates to 0.2% of GNI).
Between 2010 and 2022, Australia’s humanitarian funding decreased 34 per cent while the UK, Japan, US and New Zealand increased their funding between 167 per cent and 346 per cent over the same period.
To learn more and to sign the pledge to Help Fight Famine go to the Caritas Website.
